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I'm ex ScottishPower corporate office. What you are suggesting carries some risk. Not all transformers blow up but when they do...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-20915663
And then you have the electric & magnetic fields issue (which even if you don't believe in, plenty of other people do) as well as the reduction in property value due to visual impact etc. How big a unit are they looking to put in? What voltage?
I don't think I'd want a substation anywhere near me personally. If the power company have no alternative location but your yard, you could offer to sell them the whole property at say 150% market value.

Newton Mearns south councillor Jim Swift: "I object to building on the greenbelt when there is plenty of brown-field land available".
The article doesn't tell us where all this brown-field land is or whether it would be suitable.
He continues: "Building houses where they are not required would create an oversupply.."
I doubt this, otherwise Mactaggart and Mickel (infamous land-bankers), would not be building them.
He then reveals his true objection: "...and stimulate a reduction in local property values in the long run."
You can see him here:
http://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/ward5
So where are people meant to live?

Go and see your local council planning department. My experience is they are quite happy to give informal advice. They may be able to give you copies of local/national codes and regulations. It would probably help if you were able to take in sketches of what you had in mind.
Good luck.

The seller's EA persuaded them to get the LOC afterall. We have verbal advice that on Friday the inspection was satisfactory - but this is a non-invasive inspection, ie not even including opening the landing door into the attic space to see where the foul pipe runs.
I think this is as good as we'll get. The LOC seems worthless to me but is accepted by sellers, solicitors and lenders alike.

List update:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23630027
For me the most significant fact is not that the majority appear to be non-british nationals, it's that so many of them are listed as "failed to appear in court".
During the riots we had special courts set up and people who were charged with receipt of stolen goods of trivial value were processed and jailed pronto.
Seems a bit pathetic we have people who have cost this country millions of pounds in lost revenue are allowed to leave the country. Do the authorities not realise, if someone has done something criminal, they aren't exactly likely to hang about after being caught!
It's almost an invitation for people to come to the UK to carry out crimes. "Hey don't worry if we catch you, you can always run away later".

Thanks for your thoughts. To answer your questions and provide some background information:
We asked for all the planning docs and received the completion certificate & building warrant but not the plan which these doc's referred to - this is the only document to detail the scope of the works. The sellers' solicitor refused to get the plans for us but (strangely) did give us a copy of a quotation which seems to match what work has been done including supply & fit of sanitary wares in the attic. We went to the council, got a copy of the plans and noticed they were drawn up by the same building company who issued the quotation. The plans showed the space as a cupboard. The quotation was dated one month before the drawings. This tells me they always intended to have the toilet installed but chose to not tell the council. I think they got the completion certificate signed off, then had the cupboard converted to the toilet as per the quotation.
I've spoken with the planning dept and although the works are quite old, they are after their cut-off of 1982 and so the council are interested. They advised me regulations in force at the time of the conversion still apply, hence a letter of comfort should be issued subject to a satisfactory inspection. The sellers (yes, boomers) have refused to pay the £328.50 fee. Their solicitor says that remedial works could not be enforced (even if a council inspection were to be carried out) but from a couple of conversations with the council and my reading of the building reg's this is not the case. I think they know there is a problem but have their fingers in their ears and are going "lalalalala not listening".
Of course there is also the problem of solicitors not being able to communicate in language other than threats and bluff. Our solicitor and theirs are women - what's the female version of 'willy waving'?
The estate agent has stepped in and we are trying to take the solicitors out of the equation. The estate agent has agreed that 99% of other potential buyers will automatically ask for a letter of comfort just as we have. This being so commonplace, we do have to ask - what are the sellers trying to hide?

Hi All,
Our offer on a house was accepted but we are having problems concluding the missives. We asked for copies of the planning approval for attic conversion works carried out some time ago. The sellers supplied some of the documents but refused to get us the plan, so we got it ourselves from the council. This showed us there is disparity between what they told the council they were going to do and what they actually did. It looks like they got a completion certificate and then did extra works inc' putting in a WC. They are refusing to pay for a letter of comfort from the council (but can afford to do so) and their solicitor is making up all sorts of nonsense about any remedial works advised by the council would not be compulsory - speaking to the council, they would be.
I've got alarm bells going off that there is something wrong they don't want brought to light.
Does anyone have experience of installation of toilets in conversions to help me understand what the problem might be?
Thanks.

Exactly. Immigrants of any country/colour/religion etc should be able to prove they have something to offer this country other than a large benefit bill.
One of the problems is that many people don't understand the difference between race & ethnicity:
http://www.diffen.com/difference/Ethnicity_vs_Race
So any conversation about immigration is lazily dismissed with the racist card.

Genuine question - how long are you prepared to wait for prices to get to where you think they should be (% less than current)? Ie when do you see the housing market not based on debt affordability and what will change this? The can-kicking is already longer than any of us anticipated.

Yes another bull deciding to buy...
OK so why not 10 year fix now? Deals available for <4% and we plan to clear the mortgage in that time. There's a lot to be said for knowing exactly how much is going out each month.
Yes anything could happen and while Osbourne and Carney might claim to be determined to keep rates low for as low as possible, I'm not sure they will be able to for that long.
After years of waiting, a great house has come up in our area and our offer was accepted below valuation. Best non fee-paying school catchment in Scotland, so while not immune to HPC, the area is highly resistant. It's the right decision for us at our stage in life. Possibly a least-worst decision as I still think things are going to get 'tricky'.

From your link:
"It infected 500 million people across the world... and killed 50 to 100 million of them"
Interestingly:
"The strong immune reactions of young adults ravaged the body, whereas the weaker immune systems of children and middle-aged adults resulted in fewer deaths among those groups".

What have you done so far?
Have you asked a few local builders for quotes?
Have you searched on Google for typical costs? Typing something like "builders costs" will give you results like: http://www.buildingsheriff.com/
Washing machine - costs depend on how close to a water source but it's a simple job.
Damp - on what floor? Ground - you might have dpc problems. Is it near a window which might not fit well? Are there possibly leaking water pipes? Not enough information to help you really and there are better forums for your questions...